Meet the Investible Climate Tech Fund's Advisory Panel

Investible uses a robust methodology to evaluate any potential investment and its founding team on multiple dimensions. This framework—the Investibility Index—helps our team review more than four thousand opportunities every year. Among the many factors we analyse, a key input is external validation.

As climate technology spans so many different sectors of the economy, we recognise the importance of an added layer of expertise to climate tech investment decisions. To amplify the understanding and technical insights of our own expert team's core diligence, we assembled a specialist panel of advisors to expand our perspective, and the networks and support we provide our portfolio companies as they build and scale.  

Developing a deeper view of climate tech

We searched for people with a deep passion for climate action, subject matter expertise, and a desire to make an impact. It was also important to us that diverse perspectives were included, through a range of experiences, geography, and gender.  

The panel now consists of 16 highly motivated and deeply experienced advisors. It includes people with experience in deep tech, people development, product management, corporate governance, business development, government, and more. These expert advisors help our team to substantiate their decisions through multiple lenses, creating stronger pathways for us to push forward a decarbonised future, and support the growth of tomorrow’s industry-leading businesses.

The real power of our advisory board is in the network effect it manifests.  

The Advisory Panel is an invaluable extension of the investment team that reaches far deeper into the Climate tech ecosystem. Whether it is direct knowledge or through one, even two degrees of separation, we’re always able to get a hold of the right person to help ask the right question, get a view on a founder, become aware of the pitfalls or get a customer’s perspective.

Importantly, they are also people we enjoy interacting with, who share our goals and with whom we can have lively discussions through regular gatherings.

Accelerating the growth of climate technologies

Innovative climate technologies will revolutionise the way we eat, live, move, and work. When we’re investing in the next generation of visionary founders, it is critical that we support and enable their companies in any way possible. The Climate Advisory Panel is a keystone pillar of how we do that.

David Wright is a technology and business executive who has led the growth of over a dozen tech companies ranging from startups to billion-dollar organisations. Noticing a lack of action amongst the noise in the Climate Tech industry, David quickly realised there was an opportunity to “focus on businesses that talked less and did more and once [he] found a few [he] was hooked”. He resolved to combine his speciality with his passion, bringing technology growth strategy and disciplined action to Climate Tech companies, and joining the Climate Advisory Panel.

When asked about the impact of the Climate Advisory Panel, he highlighted three key contributions of the panel to incoming Climate Tech changemakers.

“The first [impact point] is fast DD. The members should be able to provide a fast response on key issues like:  

• Is their problem a real problem?  
• Are there others already solving that problem?
• What are the value creation milestones needed to realise their potential?

Second, the advisory board should bring opportunities to the fund through its network, advocating for the team. Third, once an investment has been made, [the panel is] part of the help these companies will need to succeed.”

Seeking funding is a crucial step in the growth of a lot of companies looking to scale a solution. With climate technology companies deploying their solutions in a rapidly-moving sector, it’s critical that the companies we invest in have the greatest chance at success. Our Climate Advisory Panel helps us to set up the launchpad and guide these companies before, during and after investment.

Advising for Impact

The Investible Climate Tech Fund operates with a 100% impact allocation. When advisors join the panel, the opportunity they step into is a two-way stream where they can proactively bring attractive opportunities to our attention and can advise on opportunities that our team brings to them. The focus of this discourse is to amplify the impact of every company in the Fund and, therefore, the impact of the Fund itself.  

“Investing in Climate Tech opportunities is inherently a balancing act of profit and impact,” said Dr. Elizabeth Eastland, a deeply experienced executive and entrepreneur, who advises both Investible and Greenhouse. "An advisory panel like this has the necessary breadth of perspective and experience to highlight the deals that can strike that balance and support the companies to do that as they grow and pivot.”  

The amplification of impact often takes place just as much in the intangible contributions of our advisors. Another member of the panel is Paul Levins, an entrepreneur and innovation advocate whose career has spanned across funds, billion-dollar organisations, and several government portfolios.

Paul noted the Panel extends the viewpoint of the teams “beyond knowing who to talk to and about what (which is critical), to an understanding of what makes something investable and how to manage investments to create success.”

A snapshot of the future Climate Tech pioneers

As the Climate Technology industry grows, the companies that build the strongest foundations will emerge as pioneers of new technologies.  

Assessing the current market, members of our advisory panel weighed in on what they see in successful Climate Tech companies right now. The companies that stood out were companies that understood the importance of a strong value proposition and realised that “climate improvement alone is not enough”. Climate Tech companies can’t expect users to act on virtue alone. The “users need to see a benefit environmentally, economically, and socially” for them to truly buy into a company’s offering.

Developing a company with strong foundations stems from building connections with investors, prioritising a user’s experience, expanding into multiple revenue streams, and developing a strong team culture. Understanding that the tech alone is not a “perfect mousetrap”, as David calls it, is crucial in keeping the business’s development a priority.

Great companies are built over time and never built alone. If you’re looking for ways to explore investment in Climate Technology, take a look at our vision for the Investible Climate Tech Fund.